Are you dreaming of a trip to the Loire Valley?
Why not take a virtual tour of the beautiful gardens of the Loire Valley with the Alliance Française de Chicago ?
Starting January 13, the Alliance Française de Chicago will begin its 8-week lecture series on the gardens of the Loire Valley, curated by Russell Kelley. This series follows last year’s hugely successful lecture series “Grands Châteaux of the Loire Valley and Ile de France,” also curated by Mr. Kelley.
The garden lecture series starts with an historical overview of the principal garden design styles that evolved in France over the past 500 years, with an introduction to the six iconic gardens featured in this series. Mr. Kelley takes you from the enclosed gardens of the Middle Ages to the Renaissance gardens first designed in the Loire Valley by the Italian monk Pacello for the Valois kings in the 16th century; to the Classical gardens designed by André Le Nôtre for Louis XIV and his court in and around Paris; to the jardins à l’anglaise that reached their peak when Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand and his master gardener Jean-Pierre Barillet Deschamps designed the parks, gardens and squares of Paris for Napoléon III, who so admired the parks and squares of London during his years in exile there; and finally to the revival of the jardins à la française thanks to the restoration work of father and son Henri and Achille Duchêne at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.
The lectures take place online every Thursday at noon (Chicago time) and run from January 13 to March 3. Members can register here for only $70. Non-members must register for lectures individually for a slightly higher fee. Becoming a member of the Alliance Française de Chicago is very worthwhile and affordable – whether you live in Chicago or not! The online programming and classes are outstanding. Plus, your membership supports a wonderful non-profit organization.
Russell Kelley is is the author of The Making of Paris: The Story of How Paris Evolved from a Fishing Village into the World’s Most Beautiful City (Lyons Press, 2021), and has lived in Paris for 30 years.
This program is presented in partnership with the Alliance Française Miami Metro with communication support from the Federation of Alliances Françaises USA, the French Heritage Society, the Historic Gardens Foundation, WICE and The Garden Conservancy.
This promises to be an excellent series. I have already signed up for the entire series, and I hope you will join me online.
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